PREY II: End of Era
by Omega-Ridley
Summary: Around 9 years after the original PREY incident. Set in Northern Ireland, where Nicole's family secrets are creeping up on her. Redone, revamped, its time for you to review!
1. Strange Encounters

**PREY II End of Era**

Chapter 2

**The Phone went Dead  
**

A motorbike hovered past and then stopped abruptly. The rider had a blacked out helmet and gave the appearance of Darth Vader. The rider took off his helmet and to her surprise it was her boyfriend, Ben, "Aren't you suppose to be studying?" she asked him. "Of course" he said cheerfully, but his face showed he was lying. "Here, catch!" he said as he tossed a helmet to Nicole. Ben was 22, younger than Tristan and better looking. He had short, spiky, brown hair and blue eyes and, now even in the rain, he was wearing a loose-fitting, Hawaiian shirt that was showing a navy surfer T-shirt. He could be such a show off at times especially when other women were around.

As Nicole got behind Ben, on the bike, she felt fear creeping through her, a premonition. The bike started its engine silent as it sped down the road. The radio buzzing in her ear telling her about some 6 teenagers getting kidnapped and then it went on about a bio-metric ID fraud. And that's when it happened. It all happened so quickly, Nicole now finds it hard to remember. The restraining straps tightened around them. Ben swore and that either meant something really good or extremely bad. "What the hell! The bike won't respon…" he wasn't able to finish the sentence as Nicole started screaming. He looked in front of him, coming straight at them was a huge hovercraft floating silently but quickly towards them. Thoughts were overcrowding Nicole's head, but then she remembered something Tristan told her. 'A tight body will sustain less injuries, in vehicle accidents, than a lose body!'

She braced herself and hugged Ben tightly. She felt the world spinning, the ground rushed up to meet her, she felt a warm, metallic liquid in her mouth. It was blood. She heard ambulance sirens in the distance, coming closer. Confusion and pain came over her; there haven't been ambulances for years. Blackness surrounded her eyes.

Nicole woke up in what seemed to be a heavily cushioned chair. A light stared at her and forced her to squint; she felt she was in an interrogation room. Nicole could make out three figures standing in the room, one standing in front of her, another was slouching against a wall and the last person was standing like a statue holding some sort of spike. The man in front of her was an army man, the camouflage suit and face paints made him look like he had come out of a videogame. His loud voice broke the silence, "Where are they?" Amnesia blanked her mind, "Where are they?" he repeated, getting angrier. Slowly she remembered the accident, the files! Of course he wanted the files! "Do you understand me?" he said spelling out each syllable as if she was retarded. The person who had been slouching came forward, he was wearing robes that hid his features, he reminded Nicole of the Grim Reaper, "I told you we were too early and she probably never got home. It has only been half an hour since I ph…I mean Spyrit phoned her!" the hooded man's voice was familiar. The army man's head snapped back at that remark, "I would have done it in 10 minutes, only you, Ghost, would have done better!" So, Nicole thought, the hooded man's name was Ghost, very fitting. 'Ghost' spoke again, "She is a civilian not a military type like you and I thought you would know that! You've now set us back a day, for what? Nothing!" the army man went beetroot and shouted so loud Nicole had to cover her ears. Briefly, she wondered how on earth her brother, Eric, could cope with being in the army, if they treated you like this.

"I bloody know she is civilian and you, of all people have set us back the furthest!" Ghost made no reply and seemed to float back a bit. The army man bent so close Nicole could see his badge 'Major Tom Ion' it read. "Do you know where the files are?" Major Ion was getting impatient. Nicole finally answered, "You didn't give me enough time!" Ghost couldn't keep pleasure out of his voice "Told you so!" Major Ion turned round, "Well since you were right you can go get the files!" Apparently, Major Ion got his revenge on Ghost. Nicole looked at her watch and saw it was 3:15, good; at least Amanda was starting Ju-Jitsu at school and wouldn't be home till four. Major Ion spoke to the person in the corner, a woman apparently named Captain Tyrh, to turn on the lights. Nicole saw that the Captain had curly, blonde hair and was wearing a tight fitting latex suit. The item she was holding was a syringe. Nicole was told to follow Captain Tyrh to the transport bay. Nicole thought to herself _'this is going to be a long day.'_

**END OF TRANSMISSION/CHAPTER 2**


	2. The Phone went Dead

**PREY II End of Era**

PG-13

_Disclaimer- Some characters in this story come from the book PREY written by Michael Crichton, I thank him for the inspiration. I also include references to some of his other fiction books. Characters such as Ghost, Tristan, Ben, Major Ion, Captain Tyrh and ώύ are all my own charaters. _

_(This is my first story so please review it, I'm begging you to give me a review and I'll post the next chapter ASAP) _

**CHAPTER I**

**Strange Encounters **

It was official; Nicole Forman hated Northern Irish weather. She had thought Ireland was the land of green grass, shamrocks and vertically-challenged people with pots of gold. She put her university papers over her head and ran to the nearest bus stop. She took the books off her head, thank God for bus stops. "S!", she swore under her breath, her biology essay for Queen's University Belfast, was soaked in a blonde liquid and ruined. Nicole just realised her highlights had washed out. "That's the last time I go to that hairdresser", she thought.

Her cell phone began to ring, it was linked to her watch, which now displayed 'Tristan'. Tristan was one of her friends she'd met over here; he was studying quantum physics along with computer programming. "Hi Nicole, how are you?" his usual jolly tone had disappeared, something was obviously wrong. "Hey Tristan, I'm fine! How...", she couldn't finish as she heard, 'whirr, click!' "What was that?" She asked, Tristan was hesitating to answer, "It…eh….wass...um….my egg-timer! Um…anyway could you give me the whole file on the PREY incident?" Fear and nervousness swept over her like a tidal wave. Nicole had recognised that 'click': nine years ago when her father had to do phone interviews, the 'click' meant the line was secure and being recorded. Also why would Tristan bring up the subject now after he had known about it for 3 years?

Nine years ago, her mother Julie was working at a FAB lab in Nevada, for the Xymos Company. Julie and the rest of the group working there ran in to trouble, so her father, Jack, was called to help them. The particles had escaped and were evolving and reproducing at an alarming rate, causing havoc for the team. Then the particles were destroyed but then Julie was found to be hosting a symbiotic version of the swarm. They were eating Julie alive. Ricky, one of the team, turned the safety valves off and filled the place with methane gas and Mae who hadn't changed heart because of the swarm, placed thermite near the lab. The last Jack saw was a bright yellow flash! Though no bodies were found, all the team were presumed dead.

Nicole now had doubts.

"Look I'm being held at gun point!" Tristan reminded her of his presence on the other end of the phone. For being a rugby player he sounded extremely scared. And who wouldn't be, with a gun to their head, she thought. "I'll try and get them," he then spoke quickly, "Bye". The phone went dead and she felt it would be scarier than getting a phone call telling you that you are going to die in 7 days. Shaking with fear for Tristan, she made her way down Botanic Avenue. The rain had turned into a drizzle and it was hard to see the traffic floating past on air cushions and magnetic fields.

Technology had gone from strength to strength since 2005; Hover-vehicles™ were something everybody had in the later part of the 21st Century. Car engines had been replaced with hydrogen fuel cells and the cars themselves with hovercrafts. Cell phones were built into your ear, thus no-more annoying people with ring tones. Also, no one needed to worry any longer about radiation due to a system called ATDM (All Terrain Digital Messaging).

Biometrics was being used in everyday life now, glasses were no longer needed and the National Health Service was ever present in your body. Tiny nano-machines now took over whenever surgery was needed to do the repairs. And still, there were always people who didn't believe robots could be trusted, groups like AAC and Anti-AI. These were part of the Reformists branch of the church, who claimed robots were unholy, no agreed with them but they caused havoc at robot-building factories.

**END OF CHAPTER ONE**


	3. Some of The Truth

**PREY II: End of Era**

Some of the Truth

Nicole was led, by Captain Tyrh, through a brightly lit, chrome corridor very much like a tin can. She thought the place looked rather like the inside of a spaceship. The corridor branched off at several places but they kept going along. The walls were riddled with large, rectangular windows and Nicole couldn't help but look every time they passed a window. In one room there was a huge sphere. Captain Tyrh commented sarcastically, "In that room they are developing 'mind control' technology."

Another room showed strange Petri dishes with red substances in them. A large screen showed hexagonal shapes tessellating, occasionally turning purple then green. The room was marked 'WARNING! ALL STAFF MUST WEAR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING WHILE IN THIS ROOM- IMMEADIATE DEATH WILL OCCUR!' Captain Tyrh spoke again: "They're reverse engineering a virus from the outer atmosphere for sending into outer space where it can survive"

Nicole had not uttered a single word and silence resumed as they continued this seemingly endless corridor until the captain addressed her once again. "By the way, my name's Dido, named after the Carthage Queen... Oh! Now we're coming to genetics, my favourite part. The guys in there are developing some sort of dragon!"

At last, after what seemed like ages, Nicole saw a security door. There was a slot to swipe a card in. A sign was stencilled onto the door it read 'TRNSPRT HNGR'. Somebody couldn't spell. As they came closer they were bathed in red light, Nicole assumed this meant no security clearance. Dido produced a security card and swiped it along the slot and the red light changed to green. The door opened with a pneumatic hiss. They were in.

Halogen lights illuminated a large room that you could fit a jumbo jet in and it wouldn't scrape the sides. It was full of vehicles of all sorts put in different areas, jet skies and submarines lined the area at the opposite site of this vast hangar while jeeps and cars were in front of them. Dido dodged between the cars until she arrived at one jeep with 'Dido' stencilled on the side. This place must be the most stencilled place in the world Nicole thought. Dido spoke, as she started the engine, "Hop in! And fasten your seatbelts it going to be a bumpy ride!"

"How can we? All the machines are frictionless…"

"It's a line from an old movie..."

"Oh…"

Nicole opened the door and got in beside Dido. Dido took out a palm-top computer and pressed a menu with her stylus pen, suddenly the whole ground started to turn, they were on a turntable! Nicole now noticed several tunnels lining the room each had its own neon light. The turntable stopped and the jeep faced a tunnel named 'ώύ'. She did understand 'wu' or was it Greek? For what? Omega-Upsilon! That didn't mean anything.

The tunnel looked deep and threatening like a mouth about to swallow them. Dido slowly manoeuvred them forward into the tunnel, the jeep stopped, engine on, and Dido flipped the lid of the gear stick to reveal a large red button. Dido pushed it. The jeep made a loud humming noise and lurched forward at frightening speed. "We'll be there in about 5 minutes!" After admiring the speed, Nicole turned to Dido, "Are Major Ion and Ghost always fighting like that? Why?"

Dido laughed, "It's a long story!"

Nicole shrugged her shoulders, "We've got time to kill!"

**END TRANSMISSION/CHAPTER 3**


	4. Ghost's Past

**PREY II END OF ERA**

Ghost's Past

"_Ghost was always different, he knew that. After he sent a few school bullies into mental hospital blabbering about ghosts, the government saw potential in him and sign him up with a Special Forces group named 'The Changelings'. He was only 14 but he passed his tests with flying colours and he was given the codename 'Sleeper Ghost'. He always carried a tranquiliser gun with him, which was his preferred weapon. In all 25 missions he had never killed anyone but he always completed every mission." _

"_He was taught by a personal tutor and was soon quite smart. He was in his prime as a secret agent, but then 5 years after graduation he was going to have his last mission. Japan and China had signed a peace treaty between the two countries, as I sure you heard on the news, the American Government was getting bored. They had enough weapons, people and nuclear projects to begin world war 3 and continue to world war 7. The American government started to spread rumours that China and Japan were going to attack the world. Of course the other countries wanted proof but China and Japan said it was their affairs they were trying to solve and wouldn't let anyone in. So the USA sent in 'The Changelings' and some back-up infantry including me. "_

"_It was midnight while we were, in the middle of a jungle, sailing down a river when we were intercepted by guerrillas."_

" _I had a boyfriend in 'The Changelings', he was called Shotgun Joe, and he carried two awesome assault shotguns with him."_ Dido's eyes glazed over, "_ The assault shotguns were designed by Ghost and were very effective. The problem with shotguns is that you have to reload a lot but not with assault shotgun._

_The guerrillas started lobbing proximity grenades at us, the grenades blew up when they came near us. We returned fire and Joe went trigger-happy and Ghost went to scare them out of their hiding places. One of the fighters took a shot at Joe, the guerrilla himself got killed, but he had done damage. Ghost knew nothing about it until he got back on the boat. He remained silent and we soon forgot Ghost was there. His bubbly attitude had gone and now he was staring into the night sky." _

_After that he handed in his resignation and quit two days later, no-one saw him leave. He did what he did best, he disappeared. I think Ghost was extremely upset about Joe, the incident made some of the regiment think he was too young for war. I think he came at the right age."_

**END FILES /MY DOCUMENTS /ENTERNITYCODEDFILES **


	5. That Sinking Feeling

**PREY II: End of Era**

That Sinking feeling

As Dido finished her story, a dot of white marked the end of the tunnel. Nicole began to feel relaxed, a feeling soon short-lived. The jeep began to slow down but still travelled at quite a speed. Suddenly the jeep lost speed and Nicole lurched forward in her seat. 'No wonder I had to put the seatbelt on' Nicole thought. That incident made her even more relaxed; she thought she was in safe hands.

The jeep came out into the next hanger which was smaller than the last. 'God, the hangers are like Russian dolls they keep getting smaller' Nicole thought. Abruptly, the jeep stopped and Nicole stepped out. She surveyed the hanger more closely and saw, on the opposite wall of the hanger, a pair of glass doors held together by metal arms. Dido fell in step with Nicole and said "It looks like a bloody toaster doesn't it? It's an airlock to remove loose particles from your clothes. Here, take these" Dido handed Nicole earplugs, "the airlock decompresses and compresses, the ear plugs stop the discomfort. Right, now when you go in, stand still and close your eyes and mouth!"

Nicole looked puzzled, "Why?"

"Because you'll be squirted with a volatile liquid!"

"A volowowa!"

"If something is volatile it evaporates at room temperature to remove micro particles because" Dido hesitated as if looking for an answer, "em…we…don't want dust in the clean rooms!" Her head nodding vigorously in agreement at the remark.

By the time Dido had finished they were at the airlock. Dido gestured and Nicole stepped in. She wasn't nervous; it was like being in a protected area where no one could get you. A mechanical voice told her to close her eyes and mouth. She obliged. Then she remembered 'Damn I forgot the earplugs'. And so as if on cue the airlock pressurised and Nicole felt her ears hurt, as if she was on an aeroplane. Next she shivered as a freezing liquid drenched her whole body, it smelt like nail polish re-mover.

The first blast of air came from above her head, a roar that quickly built to hurricane intensity. Nicole stiffened her body to steady herself. Her clothes flapped and pressed flat against her body. The wind increased threatening to rip hair from her head. Then the air stopped for a moment, and a second blast came upward from the floor. It was disorientating, but it only lasted a few moments. Then with a whoosh as the vacuum pumps kicked in and she felt a slight ache in her ears as the pressure dropped, like an airplane descending. Then silence.

A cool, female voice told her to move forward and as she did the doors in front of her hissed open. Nicole stepped out onto a tiled floor with white-washed walls. She noticed she was dry. A corridor to the right seemed endless and so did the one in front. Along the walls were photographs and Nicole turned to look at the closest one, to her left. She scanned the photo; it reminded her of a graduation photograph with seven people in two rows. As she looked at the top row she got that sinking feeling, where you feel something going wrong and you don't know a thing about it. In the top row of people, in the middle, was Tristan but he was semi-transparent as if someone tried to erase him. Dido came behind Nicole to see what she was looking at. Nicole turned round and pointed to 'Tristan' and said, innocently "Who is that?" Dido looked like a hamster who had escaped from cage to find a black cat waiting for it.

"That's… Ghost"

**FIN END CHAPTER 4**


	6. A Lot Of Explaining To Do

PREY II: End of Era

A Bit of Explaining To Do

Nicole was angry, why hadn't Tristan told her anything, I thought I could trust him. "Where is he?

Dido acted dumb, "Who?"

"TRISTAN!" Nicole shouted

"I don't know him"

Nicole had had enough and marched down the main corridor, hoping she would find him. She walked until she came to a staircase and walked up it. She saw CCTV cameras and gave there nearest a dark look. She continued down another corridor lined with doors, as she walked she glanced at the door symbols '2899', '2900a' and finally 'Ghost'. After all the confusion he caused her, she felt she shouldn't bother knocking and went straight in. Nicole felt she had stepped into an Egyptian tomb instead of a dormitory; the walls were a sand colour and decorated with hieroglyphs and famous tomb paintings.

In the middle of the room sat 'Ghost', he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and track-suit bottoms. He was sitting with his back to her, in a hover-chair. Nicole approached and saw he was typing on a keyboard. She heard a coffee machine bubble beside him. He turned round with two coffees and handed one to her, he always bought her coffee as a way of saying sorry if he had done something wrong.

He sipped the coffee; Nicole knew he disliked coffee, why was he drinking it. After a while he spoke, "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do. Don't I?" he gave a nervous laugh. "Well first, what do you know?"

"Lemme see, my biology essay is ruined, I've been in a bike stunt that nearly killed me, I've been interrogated…em…I've been lied to by SOMEone I trusted and you're carrying on the work Xymos did!" Nicole did this to make Tristan feel bad, it surely worked. Tristan looked solemn.

"You know who I am, don't you?"

"Oh no you couldn't be…Tristan" Nicole said in mock horror.

Tristan averted his eyes, "The bike thing, you can thank Tom, the interrogation courtesy of your mother!" Nicole went silent.

Tristan hesitantly, "Um…that wasn't supposed to come out"

Nicole was wide-eyed, "She's alive?"

Tristan bit his lip, "You'll be shocked to find our company is called Zimos"

Nicole was puzzled, "But Xymos went bankrupt!"

"Yes but not Z-I-mos"

"Oh!"

Nicole sighed, "Explain what's going on!"

"It's a long story"

"Is that your motto?"

Tristan pressed his touch-screen computer and a chair came out and Nicole sat down.

Tristan smiled, "As you always say we've got time to kill!"

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Great Explaintions

PREY II: End Of Era

Great Explanations

(_Sorry that this one's short_)

Tristan took a deep breath, _'I was hired about four years ago by Zimos after I had quit The Changelings. Zimos wanted me to take part in Project Omega Upsilon or 'ώύ' for short. We planned to make a genetically modified soldier that would be used for full-scale war. The soldier was made with ghostly attributes mimicking mine and other practical powers such as being able to heal and to take forms of the flora and fauna of an area. The soldier was nicknamed 'Wu' after someone mistook ώύ. Everything went fine until one of our super-computers predicted total elimination of the earth if Wu was released as part of the 'Chaos Theory'. _

_Of course, we kept him under wraps but he escaped us. Fortunately he had not finished full completion and was very weak. Remember I told you he got some of my powers? Well I have the ability to go to other dimensions without suffering radiation sickness. I did go once but no living creature was in sight, so I went home. Well, Wu must have found a place he liked and went there. After a year we forgot about Wu and our manager told we were working on another project. I didn't want to take part in it so I disappeared and so did the instruction manual. Tom likes to provoke me about that._

_Then just a week ago they found me and drugged me. I told them about everything but the eternity code that sealed the manual. They heard about you too and everything so they threatened to kill you if I didn't comply. They've stolen six test subjects; children and we're now implanting nano-machines into them as we speak. We've been specialising attributes such as water, fire, earth, wind, lightning and plant. They're children because they don't pose as much a threat or so they think. Anyway we're ahead of schedule and that's why I'm relaxing now. Hopefully they don't try and sell it off to the military' _

Tristan yawned, "Maybe you should get some sleep"

'He's the one yawning' Nicole thought.

"Do have any spare rooms?" Nicole asked

"Sure! Room 2901!"

"Where's that?"

"Beside mine!"

Tristan lay back in his chair and yawned again, "Tomorrow I'll show you around"

He started to snore and Nicole knew it was time to let him sleep.

End Chapter 7


	8. Thoughs In My Head

**PREY II: End of Era**

Thoughts in my Head

Nicole was tired. She dragged herself to the room next door and muttered a groan when she saw her bed was at the other side of the room. The room was quite big, about 25 metres across and to an extremely tired person it seemed longer. Somehow she made it and she flopped onto her bed. Lying on top of the bed, something was troubling her about what Tristan said - but she couldn't put her finger on it. She decided to sleep on it and see if it will come to her. She didn't bother to change into pyjamas and fell asleep almost instantly.

Something had woken her. 'What is that', she thought, still feeling groggy. It felt like a Monday morning where you have no interest in getting up because you're still recovering from the hangover you had the previous two nights. She felt fur against her face and she opened her eyes to see a grey cat. She recognised it immediately, it was the cat that came to her house for food and shelter, why was it here? Then she forgot about the cat for a moment and thought about what Tristan had said. If light bulbs above people's heads were real Nicole would have a huge one over her head. 'That's it, Tristan has been lying to me' She realised. She had a shadow of doubt over that, because Tristan never lied, he couldn't keep a lie in, especially one that involved nano-machines infusing bodies. Tristan would make a joke out of that. 'What if it's not at all about this operation? Maybe it's something more - but who would fund something as big as this if they didn't get something really useful out of it?' Nicole knew she didn't have enough information. So she decided to go and get some breakfast, if only she knew the way to the canteen.

Nicole stepped out of her room and glanced at her watch which read: 99:99. "Huh, is there something wrong with my watch now? It can't get any worse!" Nicole voiced aloud. But as if on cue her watch started flashing and in a plume of smoke it blew up.

'This is not my day', Nicole thought, looking as if someone had stuck her red scarf in the washing machine with her white dress. She stomped down the empty corridor until she saw a sign pointing the way to the canteen. She took an elevator up to the second floor, but then realized that she hadn't a clue which level she had come from? When the lift doors opened Nicole was surprised to see no-one in the foyer. 'This place is deserted', she thought. For all the chrome and modern space-age look, it still had a feel of a haunted house about it. Then she stepped outside the lift because she heard voices. She made a bee-line to where the voices were coming from. Nicole turned right and found herself facing a bright yellow door with a window on it. It had 'Canteen' in big, friendly letters written on the front. Through the window she saw a lot of people sitting at tables randomly scattered around the room. Nicole saw Tristan talking to five friends; he glanced at the door and signalled her to come in. As Nicole stepped closer and with a pneumatic hiss the door opened. The walls of the canteen were painted red with images of food on them. Nicole approached Tristan's table and sat down in a seat. Tristan gave her a big smile, "So Nicole, what do you want for dinner?"

**End Chapter 8 **


	9. The Deal

**PREY II: End of Era**

Deal

Tristan sat down and started into his 'lab rat' food, as he called it, the food was EMF (emotion monitoring food) and it changed to your mood. Tristan was now aimlessly shovelling _Happy Pops_ into his mouth, which were supposed to make you happy but like nearly everything in science, a lot is supposed to be. The reason he was tasting food marketed for five year olds, was the fact he was miserable, he had been lying to Nicole's face. But he had enough, soon all the lying would stop, soon, he knew he would have to do it especially when the bloody military started to rip this project apart then no-one would have control. He knew fine well the military would ask for them or at least their genetic make-up, truth is they will never get it even if they search every single byte of the computers' hard-drives. The little voice in his head was getting impatient, 'Soon, very soon' he reminded himself in his thoughts, as he bit his way though a round of soggy toast. He took out his palm-top and saw that he had a meeting in half an hour. From that he knew tonight he would jump.

_(15 minutes later)_

Tristan was standing outside the conference room early, clutching a black briefcase containing some information that would probably lead to a plane-spotters guide instead of the 'genetic' code for the experiments. The military thought we were stupid, giving free information just because they were American. Soon the guards began to let people in and Tristan took his reserved seat. It took about five minutes for all the base's staff to arrive, Tristan recognised a few, like Dr. Stone who knew more about Africa than she did biology but there was no-one you'd rather have with you when in the middle of the jungle. Her tanned skin only showed at her hands and through her sandals, she was now wearing the usual white lab coat customised with little badges that everyone used. After her came the laidback Richard Niksre or 'Slick R' for short, he was in charge of maths, surprisingly, but spent most of his time in front of the mirror calculating which angles his thick jet-black hair looked best in. Finally the woman of the match, in charge of everything, was Julia Foreman her strong figure standing out like a sore thumb. Everyone on the project had a bet that all she does in that office is working out; while others say she has muscle implants or something. As you might expect the military were late, you could just imagine them hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen wondering if they'd come to the wrong place or that they would come in guns blazing and miss everyone in the room. Unfortunately, no the last to arrive was a spokesman, a young dark haired American, claimed traffic was bad and you knew half the room would roll their eyes.

The meeting went with the usual crap 'we want this we'll give you that…bla…bla' until he mentioned turning over the experiments, the air in the room suddenly got colder and all the scientists glared at the spokesperson with utter hate. This became worse when he released information that they had to hand over the experiments for money, £900,000,000. Hayou was cracking his huge fingers in the background, he was called Hanyou because he fights like a demon and his Japanese girlfriend started to call him that and the name stuck. Hanyou was our own version of the incredible hulk; you'd better not on the wrong side of him, which what was the poor spokesman was doing at the moment. The problem was that Julia had been waiting for this moment for a long time, though no-one knew why, but this was a large gamble either be extremely rich but have little accidents that could lead to her death by her employees or show the military the hand and go on the run to the middle of Africa, well at least we have an expert! It was so quiet and tense you could have heard a photon hit the ground. Mrs. Foreman took a sigh and said "Deal" and she looked around the room to see all employees make threatening signs, the worst was made by Tristan, he gave a vampire smile and was waving bye-bye. Julia plucked up courage and said "Meeting dismissed!"

'Sayonara Suckers' Tristan thought to himself and disappeared.

**End Chapter 9**


	10. Puppets

Puppets

Mrs. Foreman left the room knowing she would return to office finding graffiti on the walls and death threats covering her desk. She could deal with it, the worker's Red Faction would come and protest, no harm done. Any employees that step out of line can be taken care of and their bodies dumped in the sea. She yawned as she reached for the door-handle, her feeble human mind still trying to gain control but always failed.

David Tunsengun ran over to her, "You've got a few voice e-mails and a file transfer from the CIA waiting for you, Mrs. F!"

Mrs. Foreman smiled to her secretary, "Fine, David please get me a coffee" and she strode in to her office.

Meanwhile at the residential end of the base Tristan sat with his friends eating. He wasn't surprised to see Nicole looking through the window and waved her in. She was nervous; he could tell by the way she glanced from side to side. When she taken a seat, Tristan offered her "So what do you want for diner?" Her face turned to shock and her mouth seemed to drop to the floor. Tristan turned to a waitress and whispered something in her ear, then turned to Nicole, "Here are all the guys I work with!" and smiled, to make sure she still understood, when he got a weak smile in return he pointed to a huge, burley man sitting opposite and said, "This is Hanyou" in reply to Nicole's curious look Hanyou said, "Hey, my girlfriend made it up!" and shrugged his shoulders. Tristan next pointed to the right to a tanned woman in a lab coat adorned heavily with small badges, "This is Dr. Stone, we all call her Ruth and she's the number one expert on Africa."

Ruth blushed at that comment, "I'm not that good!" she said modestly. Next Tristan pointed to the left of Ruth to a guy who had definitely used too much hair gel, "This is Richard or 'Slick R' as we call him, he does maths and," Tristan leaned closer and whispered, "he uses too much gel, but don't tell him that"

Richard gave that 'I'm not laughing look' at Tristan, who turn gave a 'Tony Blair' smile.

Then conversation began between them about how everyone was going to sabotage Zimos. The ideas were very good as if these people had planned it. The waitress came over with a huge cappuccino sundae that seemed the size of a skyscraper to Nicole. The waitress gave Nicole a massive tablespoon that looked as if it could hold an ocean. But Nicole was hungry and began to tuck in while the others talked and Ruth was stirring her coffee and she looked at the cream disbelievingly. She stood up and knocked Nicole's cappuccino sundae off the table. Tristan was surprised, "What the hell?"

"There's poison in that stuff"

"But…"

"I know!" Ruth turned to Nicole, "How much did you eat?" she said fiercely, "Tell us before you go!"

Nicole concentrated, "Two spoonfuls"

"Are you sure?"

"Yesss"

"How do you feel?"

"Tired, floaty hmmmm"

"She going delirious, does it taste like dark chocolate?"

"What else?" and Nicole slumped into delirium completely.

Tristan was thinking hard, "It'll take too long to bring her to room 2901 'cause all the staff here are puppets dancing on the same string, with the puppeteer overhead"

Hanyou looked seriously at Tristan, "You could…?"

"No it's never been done before"

"Stop lying"

"Alright see you in a mo" and Tristan bent over Nicole, "This might sting!" and he disappeared.

Ruth looked at the only two colleagues who were still faithful to human life, "Lets go, Tristan will catch up"

Hanyou and Richard looked at each other and nodded, "We're ready!"

Ruth smiled, "It begins!"

They ran down the corridor and at a cross junction laser beams surrounded them.

"What is going on?" Ruth demanded

A woman's voice from the shadows answered, "Tristan was right when he talking about puppets dancing on the same string, as you all soon will be!"

End of Chapter 10


	11. Dancing on The Strings

PREY II

Dancing on Strings

That what really got to Tristan sometimes, the fact he had to do something against his friends all for sake of the ultimate controlling force in the universe. But sometimes the only way to do things is to betray your feelings. Nicole was safe and hopefully Mrs. F would work in his favour by putting Ruth, Richard and Hanyou outside the base. He made his way down the chrome corridors compared to what he'd seen before this incident. He smiled, "If only every thing goes to plan!"

Then he headed for the neon sign that read 'Lab Γ' or 'Lab Gamma' to the experiment results.

Daniel Millan was working overtime security, luckily his shift ended before 10 or he'd have to deal with nocturnal out-breaks. Ah well 20 minutes left, what can happen in 20 minutes? He swivelled in his hover-chair to the many flat screen monitors that connect to the security cameras around the complex. He spotted nothing unusual in the residential area; it seemed everyone was either finishing in the labs and dragging themselves to the canteen or happily dreaming of holidays. He checked the labs cameras and saw Tristan walking to Lab G, no worries he was allowed there. The phone rang, Mrs. F was on the line, "Do not let Tristan anywhere near the labs, shoot him if you must, he'll jeopardise the whole project!"

Daniel put down the phone, an order was an order, and sometimes the only way to do things is to betray your feelings. Daniel ran outside the small security post picking up a shotgun on the way, personally, hoping he wouldn't need it and ran to the door of Lab G.

Tristan felt in power, in fact overpowered and not even death could stop him. But the whole universe was weighing him down, if he failed, time and space would be chaos and every living thing in existence would be dead. Time was giving him a helping hand and he soon forgot his dreams and fears, he was time now and it was time to go. He saw the automatic doors of Lab G in front of him and as he stepped closer, the security guard ran out in front of him.

The face in front of Tristan was a regretful one, Daniel had his cap turned down so as he wouldn't seethe death of a friend, "Look, Tristan, I don't want to hurt you but will you come quietly? Please! Don't make me shoot you please!" pleaded the guard.

Tristan looked pitifully to the guard, "Go to sleep, got to your room, you're all dancing on my strings. Forget about this and you will be fine." And so Tristan walked on closer to the lab. Daniel turned and loaded the gun and shot two rounds into Tristan. Blood splashed the walls and covered the gun in ooze.

Nicole woke up from a nightmare; she had had a very eventful last few days. She was confused, trapped in a glasshouse and nowhere to go. No-one was telling her the truth especially Tristan. She tried to get up but she couldn't and a shadow with red piercing eyes stood over her again, this was the same nightmare as before. Was this a sign, Nicole could only whimper, trapped in her nightmare world.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Heartbeat Of the Universe

**PREY II**

Heartbeat of the Universe

Daniel felt sick, blood covered his coat and dripping over his gun. Adrenaline was pumping through him; there was always a large difference between shooting paper cut-outs and humans. Daniel didn't look up waiting for the dull thud of the presumably dead person dropping to the floor. He felt strong arms lift him and he saw Tristan was holding him up in the air like some wrestler holding up an enemy to smack on to the ground. Tristan's eyes were glowing with an eerie light like he was possessed. Daniel felt weaker as if Ghost was sapping the power out of him, darkness was creeping at the corners of his eyes and the last thing he saw was Ghost's heart beating through the mess of his chest. Ghost looked like something out of an 18 rated game where you mindlessly shoot zombies to save your own ass. Daniel was considerably calm considering his situation and he felt so calm that he could go to sleep and that's what he did.

Ghost dropped the body, not caring for anything. He was possessed by the will to end the era that was killing the world. Instead of waiting for the doors to open he punched his way through 6 metres of hardened steel in 5 seconds as if it was rice-paper. He entered the lab and the first thing that hit him was the air-conditioning and the fact that it seemed no-one came in here for a long time. Well it was all computerised, but this place seemed overgrown somehow. But he headed to the containment tanks anyway and saw all the specimens in their clothing, still an extra program…eh? He smiled and went over to the computer and typed in the commands to operate mechanical hands to come and grab the experiments. Luckily this happened without incident and when all the children were out he put in a circle and made their hands touch, he then stood in the middle and concentrated hard. Ghost raised his fingers and clicked. The children were still clearly knocked out but they raised their hands and began to click as well till there was a rhythm, the heartbeat of the universe.

Meanwhile it was chaos in the residential area with scientists and civilians running here and there. Panic was the stale smell Nicole woke up to. She was all powerful now and she new what to do. Wait for the sign and then to start it all. She was possessed by the will to do something, a hidden power that came from nowhere and was unstoppable. Tristan would go first then she would, she sat on her bed smiling a vampire grin that would have put Dracula to shame. The door opened and Tristan's friends were chucked in.

Ruth was the first to get up and walk to Nicole who now looked like a person out of the Exorcist, "Are you OK?" Ruth said slowly, not sure what to expect from Nicole.

Nicole raised her hand and began to click a rhythm, "Do you hear the heartbeat of the universe? Every so often it skips and takes a long time to right itself!" Nicole spoke as if telling a joke but a very spooky one. The rhythm was very hypnotic and soon Ruth, Hanyou and Richard found themselves swaying in rhythm with the heartbeat of the universe. The darkness began to creep at their eyes threatening them to fall asleep.

On the screen Mrs. Foreman watched Ghost clicking and then he stopped but the children kept going. A bright flash appeared and Ghost and the children began to crumble away with particles swarming off their bodies like desert storms. When the large particle storm had stopped all the occupants who had sat there were gone. Mrs. Foreman looked around, her henchmen lay slumped over the controls and the men who sat at the monitors had had their eyes burnt out and not showing vital signs. So no wonder Tristan would ever warp as it killed people, 'so maybe Omega will come back and help me with my work' Mrs. F thought, 'Who dancing on the strings now Tristan?'

**End of Chapter 12**


	13. Old Friends

**PREY II**

Old Friends

Floating on the brink of existence is one of the relaxing things ever. You still have a conscience but you can't feel pain because none of you particles are close enough for electrical signal to get there. This lasts for a few seconds then you're jammed back together with the hope that maybe you'll turn out right. The desert landscape assured Tristan that at least his eyes had been put back together properly and the fact his chest was longer a gapping hole made him feel more relaxed and so fell asleep, being possessed took a lot out of you.

Nicole knew what she had to do the minute the heartbeat skipped. She would have to turn the safety systems back on! But how did she know this? One name came to mind 'Tristan'. If this was his idea she would do it, and so she stood up determined to do something she walked out of the room to find quite a crowd was standing in the corridor. The only other things in the corridor were a floating trolley for drinks and the switch to open all doors. No-one else seemed to spot it and everyone was arguing on what to do, Nicole just smiled and went to the trolley and looked at the dial '**13 18 26 99' **with a touch button indicating which speed you wanted to go, of course Nicole took '99'.

"Get out of my way!" she shouted over the din. Everyone fell silent then a man from shouted "She's crazy"

Nicole smiled in a vampire way and said, "Crazy, maybe but not dead!"

She turned to Hanyou, "Get the switch please!"

Hanyou obeyed and gave a 'thumbs up' sign to show he was ready.

Nicole climbed onto the trolley noting how stupid she must look and decided to wait.

In her head she heard 'click click click click…..' that's the sign.

"Go!" she shouted and Hanyou flicked the switch.

Nicole slammed her fist onto the trolley's 'Go' button and zoomed down the corridors with the doors opening one after another, 'I bet they don't have this at Disneyland' she thought.

Tristan woke to the sound of people talking. He sat straight up startling the group of children who were awake and sitting in front of him eating a thick soup with wooden spoons. They'd stopped eating and staring at Tristan with puzzlement. One began eating again, a boy around 15 with red, spiky hair, he took a spoonful of what Tristan assumed to be soup and then spoke, "So you're the one who ruined our lives!"

Tristan lowered his eyes, only he knew the horrid truth and how did they know? I could've been rescuing them. Tristan voiced his opinions, and to his surprise, a little boy with hair dyed blue said, "He told us all about you" and gestured behind him where a figure was standing.

The mysterious figure walked to the small group, "Hello Ghost, we meet again!"

A voice Ghost never ever wanted to hear.

**End of Chapter 13**


	14. Guns don't kill Experiments, Nicole does

PREY II

**Guns don't kill experiments, Nicole does!**

Omega Upsilon's sense of humour was daunting, had he gone mad? He was supposed to be the perfect soldier, not a stand-up comedian. Ghost found a bowl of soup shoved under his nose, it smelled like honey and lemon. It didn't burn your tongue, and it warmed you inside. Omega looked at him and shook his head, "My God, You like that stuff? I think somebody has been living on Happy Pops too long!" Ghost muffled a laugh, 'It could be worse' he thought.

Nicole concentrated on the point she was reaching and when she close she moved her body so that her feet were facing any doors in the way. The last door was stubborn and wouldn't open so she had no option and launched herself into the door and let momentum deal out the blows. _Crash! _The door shattered but Nicole kept going right into the control panel and hit the plasma screen, activating security reboot for the whole base. Nicole's heart was beating hard and her breathing shallow. The intercom crackled, "Systems…online, safety…online, warning…shhhhttt" and then static. Nicole leaned her back against mesh wall covering the back-up power generator. Suddenly something pounced at her back, its claws digging into her back through the mesh. Nicole jumped across the room and turned 180 degrees to face her attacker. Piercing yellow eyes were staring at her through the thin metal and she glanced at where the monster had already attacked, the area had a huge dent. It would probably take two minutes for this monster to break through. Nicole turned round and smiled, in front of her was cabinet which had a gun symbol on the front. The door opened easily and sure enough, Nicole found several rows of shotguns and bullets, she took a gun and loaded it. Then faced her enemy and waited 5 long and painful minutes. The creature poked its head through the small hole it had made. It crept slowly and looked up at Nicole and bared its teeth. Nicole suddenly turned round and shot the larger version of that creature that was behind her. Its chest blew up and scattered blood and organs everywhere. The small creature took a hint and scampered away. Nicole knew that more would come and she, personally, didn't feel she could take on 50 at a time. She decided to load the trolley with shotguns and bullets and began to walk up the empty chrome corridors. It was an adrenaline-pumping walk, waiting for something to come and attack you, watching every corner and listening to the unnerving silence. Nicole longed to shout but she knew she would just attract the attention of other creatures that are released. When she thought she couldn't go on any longer she saw up ahead, the small group of people who had survived. As she got nearer they began to cheer and clap but the intercom came on and everyone went silent, "Specimens 1-1999 are free," The scientist let out a sigh of relief, Nicole was confused, "Tons of your experiments are released! Why aren't you a bit afraid?"

One of the younger scientist said, "If experiment 2k gets out we'll be as good as dead!"

And as if on cue, the intercom crackled, "Warning, all personnel proceed to emergency bunker, experiment 2000 is released!"

The huge sun poked over the endless sand of the red desert, which reminded Ghost of the old western movies with the cowboys riding into the sunset. Ghost sat up and remembered a few problems with jumping through dimensions, power shortage!

That would mean…, Omega broke his train of thoughts by banging a wooden spoon against the metal pot he was using yesterday. He walked over to Ghost and shouted in his ear, "WAKEY, WAKEY RISE AND SHINE!" Ghost didn't react. Omega looked puzzled and said, "Something bothering you?"

"Yes in fact there is!"

"What?"

"The effects of jumping!"

"And?"

"Do you know that you weren't the only experiment at the base?"

"Oh"

"And most of the cages are connected to the mainframe for easier access"

"But wait… you said most of the cages are connected"

"I know there's something else…we call it Soul. It was an accident but we can't destroy it"

"Why?"

"It's too small!"

"What's the other problem with it?"

"It's programmed to be like you"

"What? I'm not that bad!"

"That's because you've malfunctioned"

"Oh…"

"This is a robot that is programmed to kill and that is what it will do."

End of Chapter 14


	15. One in a Million

PREY II: End of Era

Chapter 15

One in a Million

The intercom crackled and a strong female voice cried, "Fools do you think that you can stand up to my 'soul mate' he he heheheh!"

First the silence, then the screams, panic swept over the crowd in the tight corridor. One scientist had an old laptop and was looking at it, Nicole came over to him, "What'cha looking at?" she said.

He didn't look up but said, "Come closer look at this!"

On the screen it showed a map of the base, a red and grey mass was moving through the corridors, grey dead bodies litter the corridors but then as the mass passed over the dead bodies, the colour changed from red to grey. "What? just happened?"

"What happened is what you saw; Soul takes over the body like a suit. It uses some of the organs to spawn more of itself!"

Nicole clutched her gun tightly and took a deep breath, "How did you contain it before this?"

"Oh, we keep it in RAP!"

"You employed a rap artist?"

"Oh! No, Ray Absorbing Plasma"

"How can we make that?"

"Well we need a bit of anti-matter"

"How much?"

"Oh……we're going to need a lot!"

"Anything else, we can do!" No-one said anything, most of the physicists turned away, "C'mon you all do physics as a profession, and you must know something!" Nicole was frustrated, she didn't know much but she was trying, these bastards just stuck their tail between their legs and whimpered.

One scientist from the back came to the front, he had blond spiky hair, "Omega-upsilon was created to destroy Soul if it ever came out, of course he went, but if…Ghost is in the same dimension we have a chance! But that's one in…million!"

_Meanwhile in another dimension_, the sun was beating down on the small group of two adults and six teenagers, sweat was pouring from their pores, save Omega who was used to the weather. Soon they saw a fence that seemed to stretch for thousands of miles. Looking at it made their feet sore, and Omega began teasing them by walking at a faster pace. Just like a child thought Ghost glumly. A small wooden house, "Well there it is, the place I call home!"

Ghost smiled, "Did you kill anybody for it?

Omega gave that 'we are not amused' look and Ghost just sneered back.

"Well it's out in the open so I can't do what I was made to do!"

One of the kids looked up from his shoes, "What were you made for?"

"Killin' people, of course!" and he laughed.

Ghost gave a small 'o God I'm keeping a big secret' cough.

Omega noticed, "What's wrong? Sand in your lungs?"

"Hah! Eh……..It's…um… about your sorta….eh… purpose"

"Leave till we get inside, it's too hot to find out huge secrets nnnnnnooooooowwwww, emphasizing the last word.

"I guess your right" and Ghost gave a huge sigh of relief. Maybe this wasn't as bad as he thought.

End of Chapter 15


	16. Heaven and Hell

PREY II: End of Era

Chapter 16

Heaven and Hell

Omega owned a spacious area of land and his house resembled more of a manor. It was cool inside the house with the air-conditioning going at its highest speed. The group was glad to finally get inside and Omega went to fetch drinks. The kids flopped on to the leather sofas while Ghost took the floating armchair, now all he needed was a cat and he would look like one of those baddies out of the old James Bond films. Omega came back with eight glasses, each filled with a dark green liquid and everyone drank greedily. Once they were done, Omega turned to Ghost and asked, "So you were going to tell me something….important?" he added. Ghost gave a weak smile and said, "Well you know you were made as a safety precaution after we built…Soul…" An eerie silence filled the room and everyone was staring at Ghost but then Omega began to laugh. "Oh! I knew it; the great Tristan never likes to kill! I thought at first there was something wrong, but now this explains everything!"

"So you also know that you have to come with me home…don't you?"

"What?"

"Yeah! Because as soon as Mrs. Foreman released Soul we have limited time to save as many people as possible!"

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"No!"

"Fine, but are the kids coming?"

"Nope"

Ghost turned to the kids and said, "I'm sorry you'll have to stay here."

A kid, around 14, with red hair said, "Why can't we come? We want to be back with our families! Don't you understand that? I want to see my parents again. I want to laugh, I want to cry again and now you're taking it away from me!"

"I'm sorry but it'll cause too much space-time damage!"

Another child looked up and said, quietly, "You're evil Tristan! You know that?"

_Under the city of Bangor 8:46_

The ventilation shafts above the groups clanked and groaned under the weight of all the creatures that were crawling around up there. It was hell for anyone with a nervous disposition, never knowing when an experiment would fall through and start attacking the group. The atmosphere of fear was heavy, even though everyone was carrying some sort of powerful weapon. Suddenly through the roof came a creature that looked like a cat crossed with a monkey, it made horrid screeching sounds and attempted to attack one of the nearby scientists but was shot in the head 5 times as it jumped. Its body lay in a heap on the floor motionless and now there was a hole in the roof where at anytime another of those things could jump down. Nicole instinctively looked up as some strange sort of jet-black reptile came crashing down, it was much taller than any human and its protective armour deflected most bullets. But nothing as close as the shotgun bullets Nicole was firing repeating into its head, it gave up in the end and slumped to the floor twitching slightly. A human figure was coming towards the group, but by the way it moved you could tell it was zombified or brought back to life. Soon more and more came from each side and the base began to look, to Nicole, like something out of a zombie, 18 rated game though in this game you had 1 life and no reset button…if hell existed then this was it. Nicole fired a warning shot and hit one of the zombies but they still kept coming no matter what. A few security guards threw grenades but no affect. When the zombies were ten metres away the whole groups let the bullets rip, massacring every zombie insight. Nicole was in the middle of this adrenaline pumping event, secretly whishing that Tristan would be here soon.

Omega and Ghost walked out onto the porch and Omega stopped and said, "You should really tell the truth."

"That's funny coming out of you, Omega" Ghost remarked

"Come on everyone has a right to know the truth; you'll never come back here"

"Yeah, you're right!"

Ghost walked back into the house, he was nervous, how would the kids take this news? Was the technology so advanced that they could suffer from culture shock?

The kids all glared at him when Ghost came back into the main room and one said, "What do you want?"

"I have a lot of explaining to do, look, all of you are robots. You were built out of nanotechnology copied from the DNA of six kids, right and now this would be heaven for you. No-one to take you, no-one to use you and no-one to bother you. Somewhere you can live in peace."

"Won't we get lonely?"

"There is a village not far from here and these are peaceful times, no one will harm you. But now I must go, there is someone who needs my help and I must help her!"

Ghost let it sink in and turned to go out the door but one of the smaller kids said, "Thank you for telling us the truth!" Ghost smiled and made his way to Omega and said, "That's all cleared up!"

Omega smiled, "Do you want to stop off at the medieval times to pick up…supplies?"

"I think that's a great idea!" said Ghost and then the two friends vanished forever from that universe.

End of Chapter 16


	17. Terra Per Mortis

PREY II: End of Era

Chapter 17

'Terra per Mortis'

London was much smellier in the dark ages and much dirtier than it is today. Omega and Ghost tried to fit in by stealing clothes from a nearby stall. They made their way to the blacksmith and Omega paid for two sets of armour and a variety of weapons for the two friends. They went into a nearby inn and two rooms, changed and then warped back to their normal time.

It seemed to Nicole that the zombies kept coming and coming like something of a stuck record. But suddenly something was making the zombies frightened, they began to cover their faces and just behind the hordes a bright flash appeared. Cutting sounds were distant as two huge axes tore through the army. Two 'knights in shining armour' began to walk to the group slicing opponents as if they were training dummies. Once they reached the group the lifted their visors to reveal the smiling faces of Omega-Upsilon and Ghost. Both of them lifted out a bow and took an arrow from their quivers. They then let arrows fly straight past the zombies. Both arrows found their target, a feminine figure made its way up through the army it controlled.

Mrs. Foreman smiled like a vampire as she saw the remaining staff of the complex and she seemed to be carrying three spheres. As she came even closer she held up what was in her hand, the heads of Hanyou, Ruth and Richard. Mrs. Foreman spoke in a metallic voice and said, "This is what happens to those who oppose the 'Amicitia Per Mortis' the 'Friends of Death', oh is Tristan all sad?" she added mockingly. Ghost smiled and said, "Julia, I was wondering where's death?" Julia looked puzzled and then smiled like a contented cat, she drew a sword that seemed to be made of a black swirling mass of nano-robots. Ghost nodded at Omega and they both took out L.A.W. missile launchers. Point Blanc range and they still missed and Julia laughed at them, "You miss at a time like this Ha! You fools we will destroy you!"

Ghost smiled again, "Who said we missed?"

"There are only the fuel tanks down there….."

Then everyone realised what Omega and Ghost had done but it was too late. The entire base was engulfed in burning flames and the whole city of Bangor exploded. The sound was heard in London and even as far away as Paris. The emergency services were quick to respond but not quickly enough for some people. Bangor is now the 'terra per mortis' or the 'land of the dead', a desolate place where nothing was alive and at the centre of it a huge crater that stained the countryside forever.

Many people died that day, for many it was the second time…Soul in the resurrected bodies didn't survive the blast but there was still a lot of the original Soul floating around unaffected by the blast… A figure with blackened armour stood from the debris, he walked over to the swarming mass and raised his hand, and blue electric sparks sprang from his hand and hit the floating black mass. That was the end of Soul, its circuitry couldn't stand a large electro-magnetic pulse and it died as dust in the crater forever scattered by the wind. The shadowy figure sat down looking at the charcoal coating on his chain mail; he said to himself, "That's not going come off in the washing machine!" He laughed a sorrowful laugh, everything was gone, his purpose, his life and his destiny. Even though people have a goal in life that they try to aim for when they get to it there's nothing left to do… no hopes, no dreams and no goals, Omega now knew what depressed people felt…This was the end of era of science and this what was going to happen, a dark era, where innovation is the thing of the past, this was the watershed the day that two rival companies made the same thing, the day no one would remember but they would remember it's after-effects.

End of Chapter 17


	18. End of Era

PREY II: End of Era

Chapter 18

End of Era

Ghost woke up he lay in a heap on the charred soil of Northern Ireland. It hurt to move but still he got up. Then he remembered, "Nicole!" he cried and saw her lying motionless on the ground 5 feet away. Tears found themselves to his eyelids, he sniffed, "What have I done?"

A laughing black figure cried behind him, "Ha ha ha ! See you kill everyone else and I still don't die! You're a mass murderer!" Ghost looked at his feet and saw a glint of silver, a glint of hope and the blade of a knife… He picked it up and said, almost bursting into tears, "You should have died a long time ago!" And he stepped closer and she just laughed at him, "Ha! Are you going to kill me with a small piece of metal?"

"No I'm going to kill you with a large bit of hatred!" And he lunged forward raising the knife but before he struck, a large heavy metal head of an axe drove its way into Julia. Holding the axe was Nicole who released it and watched the dark evil come away from her mother. The nano-bots were in chaos swarming around in an unorderly fashion, dancing in the sky but with confusion. Julia fell to her knees, or what was left of her… she looked up into Nicole's eyes and whispered two words, "Thank you…" And she dropped to the ground dead…

Tristan looked side-ways at Nicole, and said "What are you going to do now?"

"I dunno…you should tell me, you're the time-traveller"

"Time doesn't exist!"

"But then where?"

"Time travel is a different way of putting it, I don't in a sense time travel, and I just go to parallel universes that are either younger or older than our own…"

"Can't you tell me anything?"

"Not directly but I what I can tell you is that there's going to be an extremely long war coming and you must choose a side, it doesn't matter which one because this war is going to last for centuries… but remember, I know it may be hard in war to find peace, even love can bloom on a battlefield…"

"So what about you? You not going…..?"

"I don't exist…I came into form to make this happen I am only a…glitch…"

"But what about your history…your hopes and dreams…?"

"I've fulfilled them and now I am no more use…"

"Does that mean..." But she saw what was happening; Tristan's particles began to float away in the wind.

Tristan smiled, "Maybe I'll become a tree if I'm lucky"

Nicole felt tear running down her cheeks and said in a croaky voice, "Why was this all planned?"

"This was always meant to happen, it becomes decided when the oldest universe did it…"

"What about the clicking thing?"

"There are many ways to die this is one of them, slow but painless…"

Nicole waited 5 painful minutes as her friend disappeared forever… and all that was left was a necklace with a small metal dog tag with the initials 'Tristan' imprinted in it. The last of Tristan, Nicole picked it up and put it over her neck. She saw a lone figure sitting on a pile of rubble; it was Omega still wearing his knight armour. He looked at her as she came closer and said, "What are you going to do now?"

Nicole sniffed and replied, "Tristan's last words 'choose a side and stick with it' and what are you going to do?"

"Tristan's last orders to me… 'Protect you'

**End of Chapter **

**End of Era **

**End of Story**

Uploading file: My Documents/Omega's work/Fanfiction/secretending… 45 complete…


	19. End of Era Aftermath

**End of Era Aftermath**

**_The Bellum Animus_**

**23 July 2013-Daniel Hube reports on the crater scaring the Irish countryside,**

The devastation here is unbelievable, nothing is alive here. The landscape has been torn up and replaced with hell. No-one knows what caused it but theories about space debris are coming up, sadly the plants aren't. It is hard to think that this desolate landscape could spark off a war. But when it comes this reporter knows which side he'll be on the side of the innovatists, the people who care. This war is not a war of materials but of brains, _Bellum Animum_.

**12 Ju'nik (June) 2489**

**Dr. Ridley's letters published**.

'_We knew from the start people wouldn't join us. Some people are so inconsiderate that they don't about anything but themselves. These are our enemies, but in this war we cannot fight with swords and shields but with words._

'_All people were born on this earth with brains but in the rising of drugs and despair people have forgotten, it is always sad that the human race has forgotten innovation and new thought. When this war ends, a new light will shine on the earth, banishing those who think of darkness._

**31 Octob'ris (October) 2017 **

**A passage from Nicole Foreman's Diary **

'_Dear Diary I went back to Bangor or now 'terra per mortis' yesterday to find a sapling growing there, the only one there, the thought brings back memories or Tristan…but now I'm with Omega who is surprisingly good at cooking. He is hot, I know but I think he'll never go with me I not his type. It think he likes the rough and tough women who fight till the death… I think I'll always wonder when this war will be over…'_

**Marriage Rota 2018**

Nicole Foreman + Omega Upsilon

Yinth Genti + Ben Silter

Kilithy Rennish + Pothus Yenter

Invisible wars death role for 25 Decr'mber (December) 2024

George Call (Innovationists)

Thomas Matthews (Despairers)

Dr. Mary Stoway (Innovationists)

Robert Renoluv (Innovationists)

Herbert Grunher (Despairers)

Gebeve Nirvania (Despairers)

Sister Ioa (Despairers)

Everant Newly (None)

Dr. Nicole Upsilon (Innovationists)

Kjata Chjekiov (Innovationists)

**From Dr. Omega Upsilon's Epitaph 16 Janu'try 2025**

'Nicole was a great help in fighting this war and giving hope to those who had given up. She fought for what was right. She helped the wounded and helped our blind enemies see the light and now passes away to a more peaceful place than this. She shall never be forgotten and as a symbol of that her child is here today with us, he will learn we will teach him in memory of his mother, our best warrior, and our most peaceful.

**President K'ilsnarch's Ending Speech 2413 **

'**The war has now ended and brought the end of era of science. This doesn't mean we need to rebel or fight, we must rejoice that the 400 year long war has ended and that this generation and the ones after it may never make war again…' **

**Mayor Tyler Evans of Belf'saide (Belfast) opening of Bellum Animus memorial garden, an extract of…**

'_Many eons ago this place was truly awash with colour but then it was destroyed and the only thing holding it back was the war. Now we have succeeded in breathing life into this land once more and made it to remind people that this should never happen again. The huge oak tree has been named 'Tristan' as Commander Nicole Upsilon had scratched it on herself. Tristan is now a symbol of hope in the black hole of war…'_

**5Year School Textbook By A. Rgon**

'**_The Bellum Animus was a period of despair. The scientists were coming up with new ideas and innovations but the general public were getting less and less inventive, they asked questions and let other people answer them, they didn't care, nobody cared and that is why many turned to violence to clear their depression, it was truly mankind at its worst'_**

**END OF CHAPTER**

**END OF ERA**

**END OF STORY**

**END OF AFTERMATH**

**A NEW BEGINNING…**


End file.
